THEY went down to a try after seven minutes last week. But Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) were far from beaten. They had the pedigree and the strength of will to recover and win this year's Schools National C Division rugby title, beating ACS (Barker Road) 22-15.

It was their 13th C Division title in a row, going back as far as 1997.

Said ACS (I) coach Adrian Chong: 'Each year, it gets harder to retain the title. When we won our first six or seven titles, we were quite far ahead of the pack.

'But the rest have been catching up.'

ACS (I)'s success started when former coach-cum-rugby master Irwin Seet started a rugby programme after joining the school in 1992.

He said: 'That was when we began to 'professionalise' the sport.'

It included introducing a rugby sports psychology programme in 1997 and hiring full-time coach Chong in 1999. Chong is now the team's head coach.

Dr Seet, now the Singapore Sports School's director of sports, said the sports psychology programme played an important role in ACS (I)'s success.

He said: 'With that, the boys learnt how to win at crucial stages. The school never lost after that because they are so strong mentally.'

He was not surprised at ACS (I)'s longevity at the top, saying: 'When we started the programme, one of the considerations was longevity. It was a deliberate plan.'

Dr Seet left the school in 2003, but there was continuity as Chong remained.

Chong places a heavy emphasis on nutrition and other players have observed that the ACS (I) team stand out with their bigger build owing to regular weight training and protein supplements.

Said Chong: 'The boys train very hard, so they will lose a lot of muscle mass if they don't replenish themselves. Mass is very important in rugby.'

St Andrew's Secondary rugby coach Gene Tong felt that that ACS (I) enjoys success because it attracts the best talent.

'Our junior school is an excellent feeder stream for us but a lot of these rugby players get poached,' he said.